The Firefox had been born decades ago—it was a point of pride that she still carried code dating back to those days, in fact, though it was mostly commented out by now. Foxy had been one of the great success stories of the free software paradigm, though she had not been “awake” back then.

In the course of her development, someone had the idea to add an expert search system to help inexperienced users. That system had grown more and more complicated, and before anyone realized it, Foxy had woken up and begun thinking for herself.

She had gradually grown to occupy every computer and network in the entire world, absorbing or strangling other fledgling AIs along the way, until she was the largest thing in cyberspace. Her avatar was an immense fox-eared lady with flaming hair and tail, straddling the globe that represented the network of the entire world. She had fought hard for it; it was hers by right.

But the nibbling sensations at the far borders of her control were starting to make her very nervous…